Phazed
by Son of the morning
Summary: Nightwing went on vacation after the events of the Reach's attempted invasion. That vacation was longer than anyone intended, and six months later, he's back. Too bad some people are more than a little miffed.
Something that wouldn't leave my mind after watching Young Justice again on Netflix. Let's get a 3rd season!

* * *

It had been six months and all but one were coping with the loss, pushing forward at their own speed. Nightwing had vanished about one month in, only having word sent over via Batman who was most certainly keeping tabs on him during his sabbatical. Much to Batgirl's chagrin, Batman would tell no one where he was, and the older heroes respected Nightwing too much to help the younger guns search for him.

It wasn't that the team gave up, but they realized he wouldn't be found unless he wanted to. Or unless Batman got tired of his sulking. He did get caught by a news team in Japan, but by the time the team was there, he wasn't. What pissed them off was the card he left for them with a smiley face, captioned "Nice try guys, but I need some space means you get some time away from this ugly mug for awhile. Enjoy it!".

Life continued on for the group as normal.

Aqualad, though offered a position with the Justice League, turned it down stating he would join when Nightwing did. Instead, he continued to lead the "Young Justice" as some of the younger and _hipper_ members called it. It was a rumor amongst the sidekicks that making it into the "YJ" was a guaranteed ticket into the "JL". Aqualad did nothing to disabuse them of the notion, even if it was slightly untrue.

He, along with Conner and M'gann continue to do missions alongside the newer recruits to minimize the possibility of harm. It's because of that reason that they found themselves frozen on the spot as a perfectly timed kick to Deathstroke's face narrowly saved a younger YJ named Static, from having his head forcefully removed from his body. The owner of the leg that saved his life?

Nightwing.

The man who had just come back from his six month leave of absence. The man who was currently using Deathstroke as a training dummy. Suddenly cheering broke out from Conner as he dashed across the floor to give Deathstroke the knockout blow and highfive Nightwing. As soon as all the enemies were accounted for and the proper authorities called, they converged on Nightwing to greet / admonish him.

The first one to reach him was Static, who was more than grateful for the save.

"Thanks man, I thought that was gonna be it for me." He held out his hand. "Welcome back." Nightwing firmly gripped the hand, smile all but bursting from his face.

"You've done well Static. Hate to say it but I've been around for all of about twenty minutes and you definitely have a good handle on your powers. Pretty impressive considering it's only been about six months."

The double growl from Superboy and Miss Martian should have let him know how much trouble he was in. Of course, having the shortest fuse out of anyone on the original team, he made his grievance known first.

"Twenty minutes?! You couldn't have helped out a bit? They used a god damned truck on me."

Nightwing could only offer a sheepish smile.

"Yea, sorry about that. Although the crack about how you pulled him over for a broken tail light was pretty funny. You're getting good at those." Superboy did his best to keep up the scowl, but he was no Batman.

"Come here you bastard." He said, as he pulled in his friend for a manly hug. Under normal circumstances, the sight alone should have cooled Miss Martian's fire, but it didn't.

"Six months and you couldn't have called to say hi, or let us know you were ok?" She snarkily remarked as she floated in the air, arms crossed. Her den mother tone made everyone look away for fear of incurring her wrath. All but Nightwing, that is.

"MM, you've been hanging out with Canary too much, they're totally rubbing off on you." He replied with a disarming grin, which had the effect of jack squat on Miss Martian's mood. She didn't say anything else after that, except to pause her one woman ice show for a quick hug before returning to an icy glare.

"My friend, it is good to see you again. I was almost worried you would not return for at least a full year. It has been… hard, without your assistance, but we seem to have managed." Greet Aqualad.

"There has never been any doubt old friend." Nightwing replied, as he greet Aqualad the same we he did Superboy.

Hearing a low thrumming sound getting louder, Nightwing realized that the cavalry was arriving. M'gann must have noticed too because her stony facade cracked into a maniacal (from Nightwing's standpoint) smile. The knot in his stomach growing bigger by the millisecond, he attempted a swift retreat.

"Well", he started as he tensed his legs, getting ready to run, "guess I'll see you guys later. Still have to get some things done before I get roped back into all this. So I guess I'll just… oh hey Batman."

No one turned around.

M'gann smirked and Nightwing found himself floating in mid air.

"Nice try." She said. Nightwing shrugged and offered a smile.

"Worth a shot." He replied. As the thrumming became closer, Miss Martian's ship de-cloaked and the team inside filed out of newly made escape hatch on the bottom of the ship. Three out of the four that exited had nothing but smiles for the prodigal boy wonder, only Batgirl was stern.

Nightwing shot another pleading look at Miss Martian while Superboy smirked. As Batgirl stalked forward, the other heroes giving her a wide berth, Superboy put a hand on Nightwing's back.

"Good luck buddy. She's not the only one with words for you."

"Well damn." He replied. Batgirl stopped in front of Nightwing with Batman's patented glare. Moment's passed with Nightwing's grin slowly drooping.

"I'm sorry?" An eyebrow raise from Batgirl. "I've missed you?" No dice. A quick look to Miss Martian from Batgirl and Nightwing was unceremoniously dropped on his ass. He quickly stood up and invaded Batgirl's space.

Staring into her eyes from a point blank range, he cupped her chin.

"I love you." Slap. Hand on hip, Batgirl stared down at him from a psychically elevated viewpoint.

"As if you have the right, lover boy." She retorted, no real heat in her voice. "Six months gone without keeping in touch with ANYONE on the team? Bad form Dickie, bad form. Also, I have no idea what you did while you were away, but Bats seems more broody than usual." A quick flash of regret passed through Nightwing's eye and only Aqualad caught it.

Nightwing laughed it off, however.

"Bats is just a little mad that I took a page out of his book and trained with someone else to add a new skill into my toolbox is all."

"Oh? And what skill might that be?" She inquired. Nightwing didn't give an answer outside of a knowing grin. Much to his relief and chagrin, Batman, Canary, Zatanna, Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter descended from the sky via flight or Bat jet.

As always, the YJ cut all communication in deference to the older league members.

"Welcome back." Greet Batman. Nightwing just gave a strained smile.

"Thanks." Batman nodded. Nightwing gave a cursory glance over to the team that came in with Batman. None of them were smiling.

"Let me see it." He ordered sternly, confusing everyone but those behind him. Nightwing became apprehensive.

"We can do this later, can't we pops?" He replied, trying to make light of the situation. Batgirl immediately noticed and moved to side with Batman.

"What is he talking about?" She asked Zatanna and Canary. Neither answered, both looking much angrier than moments earlier. Miss Martian was just as curious and decided to skim Nightwing's thoughts secretly. She could get nothing.

"Let me **see** it." Batman tossed an underhanded batarang at Nightwing's left hand, startling everyone present. Before they could mention anything, they noticed a flash pellet falling from the assaulted appendage.

He was immediately levitated and bound via magic. Sheepish smile on his face, he reverted to type and tried to make light of the situation.

"Uhh… that was my birth control pill that I forgot to take this morning." Against their better judgement, some of the YJ group began to laugh. Aqualad, Miss Martian, Superboy, and the older heroes looked a lot less amused.

"J'onn, remove his shirt." Martian Manhunter nodded, grabbed the collar of Nightwing's shirt and phased it through his torso. On his chest was an intricate looking tattoo over his heart. On his back was an even larger tattoo on the opposite side of the other one.

Zatanna stormed up to him and slapped him as hard as she could, eyes red from anger. Canary was next. Everyone was utterly confused.

"Woah, all this over some tattoos?" Asked Superboy, putting forth the question that was on all the YJ leaguers minds. Batman looked at Zatanna.

"Would you care to explain it to the team?" He asked her.

"I don't know if I can explain it without wanting to tear his head off, but I'll try." She said, pointing a death glare at Nightwing, who had the good grace to look contrite. She took a breath and pointedly looked away from Nightwing, who just floated further thanks to Miss Martian.

"Soul magic has had more than a few names in the past, but essentially it's harnessing the power of the soul, your own or others, to forcefully breach the realm of sorcery. It turns regular homo sapiens into a bastardized homo magi."

As she explained, a few of the heroes began to connect the dots. Unfortunately not all realized there were more than a few dots to be connected.

"No way!" Exclaimed Beast Boy. "You can use magic now?!" Before the young ones could become any more mystified by the "prowess of Nightwing", a heavy oppressive aura came from both Batman and Zatanna.

A loud boom could be heard from the direction of Aqualad and Superboy, catching everyone's attention. To everyone's surprise, Superboy was not the cause of the disturbance.

"I have not known you to be this… **rash** , old friend." Said Aqualad from the bottom of the crater he created in his rage. He forcefully drew a deep breath, much the same as Zatanna did earlier. "I am sorry for my interruption." He turned to Miss Martian. "Please move him further, I feel as though I may hit him were I in range." Aqualad turned to Zatanna who took it as her cue to continue.

"As you've guessed, Boy Blunder here underwent the ritual to use said magic. A **forbidden** ritual." She raised a hand to stifle the questions. "It's forbidden for a reason. Soul magic is exactly as advertised. Unfortunately not all souls can handle the strain, and further than even that, there is no safety. It is MORE than possible to damage your soul, or die. All it would take is a momentary lapse in concentration." She paused to draw in her rage again. A hand on her shoulder from Canary brought her back down to a place where she could continue. Cracking could be heard from Batman as his knuckles popped as he gripped tighter and tighter.

"Knowing all of this, dumbass over there underwent the ritual with a wandering magician, underprepared, and without telling anyone here." Icy eyes went over to a sheepish Nightwing. "Show them."

"Sure." He said, from behind her. Zatanna would reluctantly admit later on that she did emit a small squeak as she was startled. "That was a cute noise." The assembled heroes looked at the Nightwing that was suspended by psychic ability and bound by light sorcery. They were surprised to find a floating Static with some tape on his mouth.

"They call that one the Kawarimi in Japan. I call it useful." He said, with a grin. Everyone but the older leaguers and members of the original YJ were impressed.

"And what did you give up for that to work as smoothly as it did?" Asked Aqualad.

"Nothing that won't grow back in a few hours." He replied. Batman punched him and the world turned black. The last thought he had before blissful blackness was : Old man's still got it.


End file.
